Confrontation with EU over Italian budget will make government even more popular

Expert comment from the University of Warwick on the Italian budget and the EU, by Guglielmo Meardi, professor at Warwick Business School.

"The European Commission, and most EU governments, are losing patience towards the Italian budget's open disregard of Eurozone commitments.

"As things stand, the EU has only weak weapons to force compliance, and a confrontation is only likely to make the Italian populist government even more popular. Italians have already, in just a few years, turned from one of the most Europhile nations of the union, to the most Eurosceptical, even more than the British.

"A bigger difficulty for the government is on the markets, where it will find difficult to place large amounts of its debt without help from the European central bank, and with credibility in rapid decline.

"This involves risks for both Italy and EU, and with more and more governments playing the card of 'sovereignism' on finance or immigration, the EU needs political initiative to recover its legitimacy and popular support."